On Tuesday, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that 207 green energy vehicles are currently applying for road use approval from the government in the middle of the growing subsidy scheme launched to support green vehicles in the country.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will be considering the applications, including more than 3,000 traditional combustion engine models also applying for road use approval, and release a final list of models approved for manufacturing, sale and registration after a period of public comment.
The final approvals often include a separate list of which electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are eligible for subsidies and the 207 models that are applying could be included on that list.
This year, the government has already approved 185 green vehicles to receive subsidies in its first round of road use approvals last month.
China has aggressively promoted the use and development of green energy vehicles to combat pollution and promote technological innovation, spending billions of dollars in subsidies to support car makers. The government had stepped up oversight after penalizing dozens of companies last year for cheating the subsidy programme.
Sales of battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have significantly dropped by 74.4 percent in January under the new regime, which requires companies to reapply for subsidies for each vehicle model according to the Chinese automakers association on Monday.
The list released on Tuesday includes prospective green vehicles models from BAIC Motor Corp, BYD Co Ltd, SAIC Motor Corp and others.
